NHL Draft recap

The NHL Draft has concluded, and three players who have suited up for the Indiana Ice found themselves in NHL organizations.

In addition, an Indiana native & high school player was picked in the draft, and we can look ahead to the potential Indy Fuel future with the Chicago Blackhawks’ selections.

Three Ice chosen in draft

Three players who suited up for the 2013-14 Indiana Ice – two of which were on the Clark Cup championship roster – found themselves in NHL organizations today.

Chris Martenet went to the Dallas Stars in the fourth round (103rd overall). The 6-foot-7, 198-pound St. Louis native played in 35 games with the Ice in 2013-14. The big defenseman had five assists in the regular season, and also played in two playoff games. Martenet was the tallest player in this year’s draft class, and had a solid year in the OHL with the London Knights this past season. He had seven goals and nine assists in 64 games and was +4, to go along with 49 PIM. (Defending Big D)

Troy Terry was selected by the Anaheim Ducks in the fifth round (148th overall). A forward Terry played one game with the Ice as an affiliate in 2013-14, and played this past season with the USNTDP U18 team. He is a native of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and is set to play college hockey at the University of Denver. He had 19 goals and 25 assists in 68 games with the U18 team, playing a USHL, college and international schedule this past season. (University of Denver)

A huge honor to be a part of the @AnaheimDucks thank you for everyone who has helped me along the way

Matt Roy went in the seventh round to the Los Angeles Kings (194th overall). Roy played two seasons with the Ice, from 2012-14. He had four goals and five assists and was +11 in 24 games in 2013-14, and five goals and seven assists in 34 career games with the Ice. Roy was a big part of the Clark Cup championship run, with two goals and four assists playing all 12 games on the Ice blueline, including a three-point third period in Game 2 against Green Bay. He stands 6-1, 200 and provides good mobility and a two-way game.

Karch Bachman, a left wing who hails from Wolcottville, Indiana (near Fort Wayne), was chosen in the fifth round by the Florida Panthers (123rd overall). He played high school hockey this past season for Culver Academy, and also played two games in the USHL with Tri-City. He is committed to play college hockey at Miami University. (Buffalo News profile)

Blackhawks choose 7

The Indy Fuel’s parent club, the Chicago Blackhawks, chose seven players in the draft. In the second round, they took Graham Knott, a big (6-4, 190) LW who had 25 goals with the OHL’s Niagara Ice Dogs this past season. In the third round, they took D Dennis Gilbert, who had four goals and 23 assists with the USHL’s Chicago Steel this past season. He was named to the USHL All-Rookie Team and is committed to Notre Dame. In the fourth round, they took D Ryan Shea, another American who played for Boston College High School this past year. He is 6-1, 175. He will play college hockey at Northeastern. They took Slovakian Radovan Bondra in the fifth round. He played for the Slovakian team at the World Junior Championships. He is a big LW (6-6, 220). Roy Radke, a Chicago native who played this past year with the OHL’s Barrie Colts, is another big body (6-3, 203) who went in the sixth round. He had 18 points in 64 games with Barrie this season. They also took Finnish D Joni Tuulola in the sixth round. He had 10 points in 32 gams playing in Finland this past season. They went back to Europe for Swedish LW John Dahlstrom in the seventh round.

As far as when/if we will see these players in Indy or Rockford, The two Major Junior players – Knott and Radke, have two more seasons of junior, provided he does not make an NHL roster (the NHL/Canadian Hockey League agreement requires draftees to be returned to their junior teams until they are age 20 unless they are on the NHL roster). The team can retain the rights of college players (Gilbert, Shea) through their senior years, so they likely have four years of development at the NCAA level. European draft rights are a little bit trickier, but the three Europeans can continue playing in Europe for a couple of years before they need to be signed.